Different Like Prospit&Derse
by unwoundclock
Summary: "...Do you have a girlfriend?" Dave raises an eyebrow and shakes his head, "Nah man, ain't my thing. John turns to him, "What do you mean 'not your thing'" Dave reluctantly turns away from the TV screen and looks at John, light flickering off his shades as the movie runs on in the relative darkness of the room. "Just not my thing." - A story where John's Dave's thing.


**BE THE COOLKID: DAVE**

The flight was supposed to take off at 3:00 PM but it was delayed until a little past 4 so Dave spent the extra time on his IPod, eyes closed, listening to a playlist he'd effectively named 'PRETTY SICKBEATS YO.' They were pretty sick Dave had to admit, not even just ironically. Although some irony was involved of course. The reason why it wasn't 100% pure-no sugar or preservatives added-irony was because his best bro John had picked out the songs. And John was not on the same level of irony that Dave was on, even if the songs were totally awesome.

John was [retty awesome too actually but Dave wasn't just going to admit _that _to himself.

Dave had quickly learned that John had a taste for 'Indy Rock' and even if it wasn't a genre Dave got into much, he had been willing to try it. And not JUST because John had just given the files to him (the fact that it was probably illegal hadn't made John pause for even a second over Pesterchum and Dave wondered casually if maybe John wasn't as goody-goody as Dave had once thought) like Rose had heavily implied was the reason. There were other reasons too, Dave reasoned. He just didn't know what they were at the moment.

The exchange had been fairly simple and clean though, all things considered.

**turntechGodhead[TG] began pestering ectoBiologist[EB] at 15:22**

**TG: anyone ever tell you how cold airports are like they are mega cold**

**TG: think of the ice age and add plastic chairs and dim flickering ceiling lights and the strong smell of BO and the constant wails of babies to complete your mental picture of the torture i am experiencing this very second**

**TG: fuck im fucking shivering**

**TG: youll buy me new fingers if mine fall off onto the linoleum floor while im typing this right because i dont think the 5 second rule counts and my back has frozen stiff**

**EB: oh my god, dave. you are totally over-reacting like a huge wimp dude.**

**EB: ive been in airports and theyre fine. no lost fingers. theyre still wiggling them right now in your metaphoric face with my metaphoric still connected fingers.**

**TG: that**

**TG: you make absolutely no sense egbert have i ever told you how un-rad you are**

**TG: really un-rad**

**TG: like im willing to bet that youre listening to a Brittany Spears and nic cage mashup right now that you somehow managed to drag out of the hellish depths of youtube from which it once came**

**EB: says the person who's complaining like a little bitch over NORMAL temperatures that-heaven forbid-aren't above 110 degrees like fucking texas**

**EB: and no, actually i listen to really awesome music thank you very much and nic cage is a funny singer, dont diss**

**TG: doubt it but ill turn a blind eye on your music taste splurges this time**

**EB: fuck you**

**ectoBiologist[EB] has sent turntechGodhead[TG] Johnsplaylist .zip file at 15:42**

**TG: woah whats this sorcery i thought you knew that .zip files are the fucking worst and a pain in the ass**

**TG: oh my god who even does that**

**EB: deal with it dave**

**EB: i'm this close to being done with your shit and then who's going to pick you up in washington?**

**EB: a smelly, little taxi cab, that's who**

**TG: oh please i know youre just dying to see me egbert**

**EB: i**

**EB: whatever doucheface, enjoy youre 3 hour long flight alone with a cheap plastic cup of shitty applejuice and puny bag of pretzels**

**ectoBiologist[EB] ceased pestering turntechGodhead[TG] at 15:49**

**TG: egbert dont**

**TG: well fuck you too**

Okay, so maybe the exchange hadn't been the best, considering that this week was supposed to be their once-a-year-best-bro hangout visit but Egbert had kind of set himself up for that. And Dave hadn't been in the best mood either, considering the horrible layover in some obscure airport with only his laptop as carry on. But he cautiously opened the file John had sent him (cautiously because he didn't put John above sending him some prankster virus or stupid .bat thing that would mess with his shit. It had happened before and his mouse still spazzes out every once in a while and his desktop is a very flattering tile of Nicholas cage portrait pics every time he reboots his computer).

Dave's laptop / downloads / John'splaylist. zip

R U Mine?.mp3

Trying to Be cool. mp3

Heavy Metal Drummer. mp3

Caring is creepy. mp3

I follow Rivers(You Deep Sea Baby).mp3

Cool Kids. mp3

Ghost Busters theme. mp3

Here(In Your Arms).mp3

Oceandust. mp3

How do I live without you. mp3

You fucking douche these songs are the shit dave you suc...txt

The .txt file turned out to be an angry Egbert rant that read as follows:

_you fucking douche these songs are the shit dave you suck so much like ohmygod you massive dickwad paired with a tiny prick what the hell you douche you are the worst my songs rule and you're just bummed because you don't got these awesome beats. well, now you do, but whatever you still aren't HALF as awesome as i am you better listen to these songs and weep, you hear. WEEP. cry yourself a river and understand just how MUCH MORE AWESOME i am. wow, okay you better make that up and get me something cool in return because these songs are some epic shit ok. Okay._

_LOVE,_  
_john_

_(aka ectobiologist aka EB aka the awesome overlord of tricks and pranks aka the person who is more awesome than dave strider aka your fucking god ok aka everything amazing and good in this world)_

Dave opened each song and, although he'd never tell Egbert, every one of the songs had been listened to more than 11 times by the time the plane fully boarded and was starting to take off. Even the Ghost Busters theme, Nic Cage song, and the kind of girly 90s' song that Dave swore he'd hate but eventually saved to his 'MIX SAMPLES HELL YEAH' file because, hey, it'd make for some pretty good mashups. He also didn't miss how 2 of the songs were about coolkids and-being THE coolkid himself-Dave was able to contain the smile that threatened to pull at the sides of his cheeks. Okay, so he'd been wrong and over-reacted, but there was still 2 hours and 46 minutes to make something that would make things right. Maybe. Yeah.

**BE THE DORK: JOHN**

Dave could be a massive dickface, yeah, but realistically John knew that they both were. In fact, John knew that be couldn't be best friends with someone that wasn't as douchey as he was because 1. They probably wouldn't be able to handle his incessant and mighty trickster gambit and 2. John would feel bad about being such an ass with someone so happy and cheerful and trusting like Jade or-oh god no-Rose. That's why Dave was his best bro, right?

But best bro or not, there was a line and when that line was crossed it was time for payback; and John wasn't going to let Dave just get away with insulting his taste in music.

Yeah, so forcing Dave to ride in a shitty taxi had been an OK idea, but it wasn't funny enough and it was one of those pranks that was more mean than a trick. Maybe something would come to him later, but for now he was already dealing with an onslaught of emotions including-but not limited-to: excitement, happiness, a bit of anxiety, and a ton of of-my-god-when-is-dave-getting-here-he-is-fucking-coming-to-fricking-washington-to-see-me-holy-shit. John double-checked the time and decided to get to the airport an hour early, pulling on his coat, scarf, and goofy ghost-themed gloves as he walked out the door and to his car. John started the engine and drove to the airport, making sure to memorize the path as much as possible so he wouldn't get lost or flustered on the drive back with Dave.

At the airport John waited nervously by the gate, hands in his pockets as he tried to concentrate on his phone. But he couldn't. 1. Dave was going to be walking through that door in all his cool-kid splendor and 2. john didn't like crowds, at all-they kind of freaked him out. So John took to leaning against the side of the wall and holding his phone in front of his face to deter any chatty folks and to look like he wasn't currently freaking the fuck out.

God, Dave.

John tried to think of what Dave would look like now. Would he be taller? Tougher looking maybe? Did he have to shave now? What if he didn't shave? John frowned a bit as he struggled to picture a Dave with a long, bushy beard and realized that he couldn't.

It had only been a year since John had visited Dave and his older Brother in Texas but a lot could happen in a year-like the realization that your best friend is really hot and cute and cool and has a nice ass and is pretty much perfect and you love him kind of change-for example.

John's eyebrows curved in, worrying his large teeth over his lip as he tried to not come to terms with his obvious bro-oriented sexuality. Holy shit.

A woman's voice chimed statically from some speakers as she listed off the arrivals and John could only half-listen because his eyes had automatically glued themselves to the arrival gate and-crap-people were starting to walk through it. John lowered his phone and scanned the people for a Dave-shaped figure, worried when none of them fit the criteria. He pushed himself off the wall he'd been sharing most his weight with and looked at his phone, checking for any missed pesters.

None.

John was half-tempted to look through his past pesterlogs with Dave just to calm himself when a puff of warm air blew over the collar of his jacket and a hand settled beside his head.

"Yo bro, took me a while to distinguish you from the massive mob of wool that is your clothes," there was a definite smirk behind those words and John spun to the side so fast his glasses almost whipped off his face and his nose collided with a shoulder and John's heart tripped so fast that he could barely manage the word "hey" before his arms instinctively curled themselves around the Texan's body and held the other boy in a vice-grip that would only ever be described as the greatest of all bro-hugs.

The bestest. No 1. So hug. Much bro. (John slapped himself for that lame joke mentally)

"Hey to you too Egbert, But if you don't mind I'd like to keep my kidneys and ribs in working condition please."

John pulled back and grinned so wide he knew his teeth and braces were showing but he couldn't even find it in him to care.

"Fine, sure, maybe I could do that. Maybe, pft. Yeah," John looked over Dave's pale-looking, lightly freckled, fully-shaved expanse of awesome that was Dave Strider's face. God. Dave's shades mirrored John's face kind of like a mirror and Dave's teeth were slightly visible where he bit his lip and god, just god. John was in deep. So deep.

He wanted to gently grab that Trying-to-be-Cool (John laughed at that mentally, he wondered if Dave had gotten what he'd been trying to say) but actually kind of nervous face and bring it to his lips. John noticed that Dave's lips were kind of chapped and looked so-

John had to cut himself off there because Dave was saying something and hell if John was going to be a stuttering mess this whole trip.

"Uh―what?" John said as he looked back up to Dave's shades, kind of warm in the face but trying to look natural. _Yeah, I always look like this. Us hard-core Washington dwellers are our own heaters man. Totally._

Dave raised an eyebrow and pointed to the luggage area and John picked up his one suitcase with him.

_This is going to be a long trip to the hote_l, John thinks to himself as he slings Dave's bag over his shoulder as Dave wheels the suitcase next to him.

**[At John's apartment 18:32 ]**

So here they are at John's small-ish flat overlooking a kind of dull but nice, friendly park and a bit of the tall buildings in the distance and John's only mildly anxious and a bit freaked and hay-wired so, well, that's uh good. The car ride from the airport had been filled with mostly "comfortable" silence and the heavy, car-shaking music Dave was playing high-volume on John's poor car speakers. So not really silence, but not really speaking either. Then again, Dave had been singing softly to a bit of some of the songs. When an especially loud and fast guitar solo blasted on Dave had even begun to strum an invisible guitar with reckless abandon and that had managed to reduce John to a bunch of small chuckles.

Yeah, that was how it had been all the time when they were just elementary school-kids laughing up fits in the back of his Dad's Prius or staring in awe at Dave's Brother's cool motorcycle as he rode to work and left them with a semi-warm pizza on the kitchen counter.

John shook his head a bit fondly as the memories clogged his brain and washed his eyes for a second. He looked back at Dave without realizing how stupid he must look because Dave looked almost surprised. "Have something on my face?" Dave huffed quietly just for argument's sake as he toed off his shoes and looked around John's flat admiringly (well, as much as Striders get that is.) "Nah, it's only your stupid seeping through your cool facade. Don't worry about it." John retorted all too child-like and was almost embarrassed but Dave smirked slightly so John guessed it was okay.

"So, nice place here," Dave motioned a hand to the room and John didn't really know what to say so he just shrugged and said a shy-ish "thanks. I mean. uh. yeah. NO-I MEAN OH MY GOD DAV-"

"Woah," Dave chuckled-okay manly, cool-like chuckle BUT STILL,"no need to get your Ghostbuster-print panties in a game of underpants Twister."

"Whatever." (So smooth John. _So_ smooth. Remember to drown yourself in the bathtub later, thanks)

"Yeah. So, where am I staying? On the couch, on the rug, in your bed? You name it man."

Oh, John can definitely see the smirk in that sentence but he's a bit too distracted coughing on air because _WHAT_. Does Dave KNOW? No, there's no way he could have found out-then why? John must have been looking a bit short-circuited because Dave rose an eyebrow and was about to say something when John grabbed for the only way out he could find:

"I'M NOT G-GAY DAVE!"

Okay, so it was a totally blatant lie but still. Dave couldn't find out. Nope. Nadda. Not gonna happen.

"Bwahaha! Your _face _Egbert!" Dave had fallen on his side on the couch and was laughing so hard his glasses shook on his nose. John involuntarily smiled just because Dave looked so cute like that-so carefree. And John knew Dave would only ever let himself go with him.

"S'not like yours is better dickwad," John snarked while laughing too as he sat down next to Dave and leaned into that warm comfort that had always accompanied the other boy.

"Sooo, wanna play a game or something something?" John looked up at Dave and Dave's eyes met his and for a second the world just stuttered.

Dave seemed to notice it too, smirk relaxed to almost a smile and eyes wide behind the filter of his shades, before he looked to the side than back.

"sure, what do you got?"

John smirked playfully and started to get up, "Well I've 'got' a 3DS in my room and I'm guessing you brought yours too so I officially challenge you to a battle of responsibility, loyalty, leadership, and adventure!"

"You want to compare villages on Animal Crossing? Really?"

"Saying you're not game Dave?"

"Nah, nah, I'm getting it," Dave said quickly as he got up too and rummaged through his backpack until he pulled out a dull red 3DS.

And so that's how two 19-year-old boys ended up running around each other's towns for 4 hours catching fish, chasing each other, burying treasure for the other to find, and writing inappropriate messages on the towns' billboards. Needless to say, it was the most fun John had had in a long while and he knew he had it bad for Dave. When their arms and legs tangled and brushed against each other on the floor and Dave punched John's arm lightly after John plundered his town, John knew that this is what he wanted all the time. Really he just wanted Dave to stay.

After they'd done basically everything in Animal Crossing and Dave had glitch-screened the entirety of the world, the two of them ordered pizza from a nearby restaurant and they settled down for a bro-to-bro chat in front of a muted TV screen.

"So how's college?" Dave asks as he pushes in _Inception _into the DVD drive.

John rolls his eyes in disdain, "You don't know true mundane boredom until you take mandatory Networking classes. I mean, the programming classes are great but I really couldn't give a shit about most of the stuff we learn. Guess what all the tiny components on the motherboard are -well gee- no one fucking cares!"

Dave raises an eyebrow and half of his lip, "you've been spending too much time with that small guy-what's his name-Kevin?"

John laughs and his head hits the foot of his couch but things are just _so funny_ when Dave says them for some reason.

"Kyle. His name's Kyle, dude. That's only like the hundredth time I've told you that."

Dave shrugs and takes another bite of his pizza as his eyes direct back to the screen.

"So...any special someones in your life. Y'know, like girlfriends and stuff since you're so _totally_ not gay."

"I'm not!" John chimes in too quickly, too nervously.

"_Whatever_ man, answer the freaking question."

"uh, no? Duh Dave. I would tell you if I did!"

John looks over at his friend curiously.

"...Do you?"

Dave raises an eyebrow and shakes his head, "Nah man, ain't my thing."

John turns to him, "What do you mean 'not your thing?'"

Dave reluctantly turns away from the TV screen and looks at John, light flickering off his shades as the movie runs on in the relative darkness of the room.

"Just not my thing."

"Dating?"

"No. Just-arg."

Dave huffs out a breath and John lets go of one that he'd been holding under the tension that had suddenly built up between them.

"Look, forget about it." Dave deadpans and turns away again but John stops him with "no, come on Dave, I'm listening."

There's another weighted silence but Dave finally looks back and opens his mouth once or twice before he finally speaks.

"Okay, so this is kind of difficult because I know you're really touchy about this sort of thing dude I know and I mean nothing has to change like you can just forget all about this conversation if you want okay li-"

"Dave get to the point. You and I both know that we're best bros and nothing about you is going to change that so stop worrying."

Another sigh-huff.

"I don't like girls."

John stares at him and maybe Dave takes it as disapproval or something because he starts his fast-talk rambling again.

"Like I dunno man they just-they're so-they...Actually it's not girls It's guys like have you SEEN some of those BBC TV guys like think of the Doctor like he's kind of gay too sometimes and you like him like hey it's Adam and Steve ya'know hahaha ha..hah... Nah that wasn't even funny I don't know what I'm even talking about right now I mean, god, okay are you okay do you still want to be friends like hey, I can just leave like there was this hotel I saw on the way here Idk ugh, look-"

"Dave _shut up_ for a goddamn second."

"John-"

"No, shush Dave. Look, I know I was all "no homo" on you but that doesn't mean that I'll just reject you for loving who you love regardless of gender, man. You can love whoever you want to and that's not even anything I have a say in because it's just you, and I really like you Dave. I mean, we've been friends forever man and this is who you are and you're the best friend anybody could ever ask for so no, dude, I'm totally fine (happy, over-joyed, A+-okay) with this."

Dave stares at John a second before he nods and John nods too.

"Okay?"

Dave nods and does a thumbs-up although he still looks kind of surprised and a little confused.

"Okay."

"Good, then lets finish this movie and then you'll help me get your suitcase into my room because that shit's heavy as fuck."

* * *

Notes:

Alright, so chapter one's done and I'm planning on a chapter two. Feedback is always enjoyed and I hope you guys like it!


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